起始年龄与二语语言能力相关性研究

A correlational study between onset age and second language competence

近年来,中国的外语学习出现了低龄化的趋势,各种双语早教班和幼儿园的出现似乎在提醒人们,外语学习越早越好。语言习得关键期假说也成为二语习得领域的研究重点之一,语言学者们在外语学习的起始年龄对外语学习效率的影响力方面无法达成共识。在对比分析关键期相关研究的基础上,通过实证研究试图证明不同年龄开始接触英语的学习者在语言能力方面并没有显示出明显的差异,关键期假说不适用于主要基于学校教学的外语教学。

Nowadays English learners in China have become younger and younger.Bilingual early childhood education and bilingual kindergartens seem to remind people that it is better for a child to learn a second language earlier.The critical period hypothesis in language learning has become one of the hottest researching aspects in the field of second language acquisition,though researchers can not reach a consensus yet on the influence of onset age on the efficiency of foreign language learning.After a thorough comparative analysis on former studies about the critical period hypothesis,this paper tries to prove that language learners who started their English study at different ages show little difference in English competence,and thus the critical period hypothesis is not applicable to the language learning in formal settings.